From NPR: “The chants, chaos and cries from the streets of Cairo and other cities in Egypt this week revive questions for historians and political scientists that politicians have to answer with practical policies. Host Scott Simon speaks with Dr. J. Rufus Fears, a historian and Classics scholar at the University of Oklahoma, about western concepts of democracy and the events now sweeping Egypt and the Middle East.”
Click here to listen and read this excerpt from the transcript below:
Dr. FEARS: Well, freedom is not a universal value. And many people, in many places, at many times have chosen the perceived security of a strong ruler – an authoritarian ruler, even a despotic ruler – over the awesome responsibility of self-government. That has been the choice of the Middle East, that is to say autocracy, since the birth of civilization in the Middle East in Iraq and Egypt 5,000 years ago.
SIMON: So as you take a look at whats happening, does that give you any pause to refresh your view? Or how do you see it?
Dr. FEARS: This is how regime change occurs in the Middle East – again, going back 5,000. A tyrannical ruler will ultimately so outrage the people through high prices for food, in particular, and oppressive taxations, and open corruption that these demonstrations will begin.
Our first great work of literature, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” describing a situation in Iraq around 2700 B.C., has just the same story. The people rise up against a strong ruler and force him into exile. And that is the history of Egypt from, say, pharaonic times onward. And that will be the outcome of this particular crisis.
Imagine for a moment, a la Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, you could transport founding father and patriot Patrick Henry to today’s time. Imagine further you would take him to an American airport. I’m sure he would be shocked bedazzled to see the flying contraptions (not to mention the small rectangular object people held up to their ears). He might even be delighted, hoping to go tell Benjamin Franklin of what he saw.
For those of you that love when archeology and Christianity intersect, you’ll love the images found in this CNN piece, 
I realize I may be in the minority, but I admire Christopher Columbus.
“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.”
Or happy Canada Day, whichever you prefer to say. You know how the saying goes, that government is best which governs closest to home. Or something like that.
Frank Turek, of 
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to one and all. Growing up, I always enjoyed this holiday, though until recently this Evangelical did not fully appreciate the saint behind it.
It is also commonly known as Presidents Day (or Presidents’ Day). As Washington’s Birthday or Presidents Day, it is also the official name of a concurrent state holiday celebrated on the same day in a number of states.”